Darius Milhaud: Le Vie - Essay Example

Darius Milhaud: Le Vie Darius Milhaud was a composer. His was from French. Milhaud was born in Aix-en Provence in 1982 and later moved to the United States in 1940.He died in 1974. He is defines his “French Provence and Israelite religion” as his inspiration and will be constantly under the sign of dual identity. His talent for music developed when he was still a young boy. He grew up to be a French composer and a teacher. He was a member of the Les Six1. This is known as the group of six and is one of the most prolific groups of composers.

Most of his compositions were influenced by jazz and the use of polytonality. This kind of music employs the use of more than one key.Polytonality is the musical use of numerous keys simultaneously. This requires the presentation of simultaneous key centers. The polychord describes the chords that can be used through super imposing of multiple familiar tone sonorities. Through using such musical content, Milhaud was an extremely rapid creator as the art of composing and writing music seemed to be in the natural sense.

Most of his works were influences by his love for jazz2. He got the inspiration through jazz when he was forced to leave his mother land due to Nazism the jazz was playing on the bus that he was travelling on. The first of his many songs were his source of inspiration. As a born melodist, Milhaud excels at inventing a curve theme that was free and healthy. This is a structure that is essentially of a diatonic nature. It has the ability of lending itself admirably to the development of a polyphonic nature.

However, the polytonality of Milhaud is purely harmonic hence the famous counterpoint agreements. The rhythmic language is simple, periodization almost as symmetrical as in classics orchestration. This art light is a direct opposite of the chromatic Germanic. It is naturally in the great French tradition of Rameau which is the claims of the composer. It is one of the most significant of the non serial music of these times. Milhaud’s work and expresses profound serenity and inner peace. The songs are excellent in translation of tenderness, joy and intimate pastoral poetry.

Darius Milhaud song was used in the movie La Vie Commence Demain. This film was released by the film maker Nicole Veder’s as the first semi fictional feature in France in the year 19493. Due to public demand for the movie, La Vie Commence Demain had to be acted in the English version being named as Life Begins Tomorrow .The film was a speculation of the future of mankind and the initiation of atomic energy. Darius Milhaud played the role of the music score in the movie. Milhaud’s music is characterized by the use of bitonality and poly chords.

He was the first to analyze and develop that technique consistently. This style was simplified later but the harmonic basis remains polytonal. The effect of his polytonality is witnessed in different planes of sound. Although the music may sound dissonant, it retains a lyrical quality. Biography1) Milhaud, Darius. My Happy Life. London: M. Boyars, 1994.2) Kelly, Barbara L. Tradition and Style in the Works of Darius Milhaud: 1912 - 1939. Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate, 20033) Fulcher, Jane F. The Composer As Intellectual: Music and Ideology in France 1914-1940.

New York: Oxford University Press, 2005